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HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 63 CHAPTER IX. ERECTION OF ROSS COUNTY. The Proclamation of the Territorial Governor.—The Original Townships.—Proposition to Establish the County of Massie.—Other Counties Proposed.—Early County Buildings. Ross county, so named after the Hon. James Ross, of Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, who, at that time, was the unsuccessful candidate of the Federalists for the office of governor, was formed August 28, 1798, by proclamation of the territorial governor, Arthur St. Clair, and as originally formed, included a large integral portion of what is now the State of Ohio. Following is the proclamation of the governor: "Beginning at the forty-second mile tree, on the line of the original grant of land by the United States to the Ohio company, which line was run by Israel Ludlow, and running from thence west, until it shall intersect a line to be drawn due north from the mouth of Elk river (commonly called Eagle creek), and from the point of intersection running north to the southern boundary of the county of Wayne, and from thence easterly with the said boundary of Wayne, until a north line to be drawn from the place of beginning shall intersect the same ; and if it should be found that a north line drawn from the place of beginning, will not intersect the said southern boundary of Wayne, then an east line is to be drawn from the eastern termination of the said boundary, until it shall intersect the aforesaid north line to be drawn from the point of beginning. "ARTHUR ST. CLAIR, "Governor, Territory northwest of the Ohio. "August 20, 1798." The enormous territory of Ross county, as originally constituted, was gradually reduced by the erection of other counties, by proclamations of the territorial governor, and by the erection of new counties by the State legislature. Franklin county was first set off from its northern part in 1803, and by its establishment the northern boundary of the county was fixed about where Circleville now is. The erection of Pickaway county established the boundary where it now is, and the erection of Scioto and Pike upon the south narrowed the limits in that direction, while similar encroachments were made by the establishment of counties upon the east and west. Further eliminations in the extent of Ross county have been from time to time contemplated by parties who were interested in the establishment of new counties. In 1846 a movement was on foot to establish the county of Massie, with Bainbridge as the seat of justice, and a petition to that effect was presented. the legislature in October, of the year indicated. The active men in this movement were J. M. Greene, D. C. Carson, and Elijah Rockwell. The plan proposed was the erection of a county from the territory of Ross, Highland, Pike and Adams, the eastern boundry of which, had it been formed, would have been about ten miles west of Chillicothe. The petition met with comparatively little favor in the legislature, and so the name of Massie was not honored by being applied to a portion of the territory which he did so much to bring into a condition of civilization. It is to be regretted, by the way, that his name was not perpetuated by being conferred to some one of the divisions of the State, and it might more appropriately have been given to Ross than was that of the prominent Pennsylvania Federalist. A project was also inaugurated for the establishment of the county of McArthur, with South Salem as the county seat, about the same time that the Massie county scheme was agitated. Still another movement was on foot in the forties to create a county from the territory of Ross and other counties lying about Ade1phi, with that town as the seat of justice. THE FIRST COURTS. The first court which had jurisdiction over the settlers upon the soil of Ross county was known as the court of quarter sessions, a tribunal which ceased to exist upon the admission of Ohio into the Union, in 1802. Since that date, and up to the time of the adoption of the new constitution, March to, 1851, the supreme court and court of common pleas have held jurisdiction. Since 1851, the district common pleas and probate courts have held jurisdiction. The office of presiding judge was appointive, by the governor of the State, until 1855, when it became elective as it still remains. In volume "A" of the. records of the court of common pleas for Ross county, occurs the following entry: " By virtue of a general commission from his excellency, Arthur St. Clair, governor and commander-in-chief of the territory of the United States, northwest of the River Ohio, Thomas Worthington, James Scott, Samuel Finley, William Patton and Elias Langham were constituted justices of the court of common pleas for the county of Ross, by commission bearing date, Cincinnati, the eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand, seven hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of the United States the twenty-third, whereby they, or any three of them, were empowered and authorized to hold and keep a court of record, in the said county, to be styled the county court of common pleas." At the same time, Edward Tiffin, esquire, was duly 64 - HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO. commissioned and sworn prothonotary of the said court, and authorized to keep the seals and records thereof. Jeremiah McClain, esquire, produced a commission from his excellency, Arthur St. Clair, governor, appointing him sheriff of the county of Ross, dated October 1798. The first court of common pleas was begun at Chillicothe on the fourth Tuesday of December, 1797, when were present the before-named judges and associates. The first suit was Bedford and Mowry against William Wylie. Damage, fifty dollars. The sheriff's return showed that the "defendant could not be found within his bailiwick," and the suit was discontinued. GRAND JURY. On December 27, 1803, the following persons began their duties as grand jurors for Ross county: Isaac Cook, foreman; Joseph McCoy, .William Kerr, James Grubb, Thomas Stockton, Thomas McCoy, Hugh Cochran, James Monary, William Price, Samuel Heath, John McCoy, Anthony Franklin and Nathaniel Pope. Their first action was the finding of a bill against one Philip Wolfe, for selling liquor "contrary to the statute made and provided." This indictment was placed in the hands of a petit jury consisting of Isaac Brink, Thomas Chenoweth, William Roberts, James Dailey, Henry Musselman, John Odell, Gasper Bogard, John Entrekin, Elisha Rawls, George Frederick, Amos Taylor. and John B. Bayles. The said Philip Wolfe was found guilty, and he was accordingly fined, by the court, in the sum of twenty dollars, and to remain in the hands of the sheriff until the sum should be paid. THE OLD COUNTY BUILDINGS. The first courts in Ross county were held in a small hewed log house, which was built in 1798 by Reuben Abrams, and stood at the corner of Second and Walnut streets. To the main building, which was thirty-six by twenty-four feet, was attached a wing about twenty-four feet long and eighteen feet wide. In the lower room of the wing Colonel Thomas Gibson, auditor of public accounts for the northwest territory, had his office; and the upper floor was used as a living room by a small family. The upper room of the main building was a resort for gamblers and contained a billiard table. In the lower room the territorial legislature held its sessions in 1800 and r8o1. The courts were also held there, and in later years it resounded with the voice of many a pious preacher of the Presbyterian or Methodist faith. In the war of 1812 the building was used as a recruiting rendezvous and barracks for United States troops. When pulled down in 1840 the logs of the old building were still sound, and the roof which was made of blue ash shingles was without a leak. In 1800 was begun the construction of the old stone court house, which stood midway between Main street and McCoy's alley, about fifty feet back from Paint street. The building was two stories in height and surmounted by a cupola, over which was mounted a gilt eagle, standing upon a ball. The stone work of this building was done by Major William Rutledge, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and the carpenter's work by William Guthrie. The building was finished in 18o1. All of the work was done at the expense of the county. In this house was held the convention which formed the constitution of Ohio, and in 1803 the first State legislature assembled in the same place. The courts were held in the building from the time of its completion until it was torn down, and the sessions of the legislature as long as Chillicothe was the seat of the State government. The building was found at an early day to be inadequate for the accommodation of both branches of the legislature, and a brick was erected twenty feet south of the stone structure, and with its southern front on a line with Main street. A covered way connected the two buildings. The senate assembled in the brick building, and the members of the house of representatives in the ourt house proper. In 1853 the building which from forty to fifty years before had accommodated the law makers of the State, was too small to serve as a court house for Ross county, and action was then taken toward providing one which was adequate to the demand. The construction of the present fine court house, of which an accurate representation is given in this work, was begun by General James Rowe, and Josiah McAdow Lines, one of the county commissioners, in 1855, from designs and plans furnished by a Philadelphia architect, and the building was finished and furnished in 1858, under the supervision of Dr. S. McAdow, who was, in the fall of that year, elected as one of the County Commissioners. The cost, in round numbers, was one hundred thousand dollars. The first jail was a two-story brick building which stood in the southwest corner of the public ground. It was proven insecure, by the fact that prisoners frequently made their escape through its walls, and the commissioners sold the, building to Thomas Braden, -who had it carefully taken down, and the materials removed to the northeast corner of High and Arch streets, where he constructed from them a building which was at first used as a hotel, then as a brewery, and which is now in use as a private residence. In 1827 a stone jail was erected on the site of the present prison. The jail and sheriff's residence, now in use, was begun in 1877, the county commissioners, probate judge, county clerk and sheriff forming a board of construction, in June of that year accepting the plans and specifications of T. J. Tolland & Son, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The commissioners, in 1818, bought of James Dunlap two hundred acres of land for a poor farm, and in the following year the first infirmary building was erected— a two-story brick. This was in use until the comvletion of the present infirmary building in 1875, an addition having been made in 1860, under the superintendency of Dr. S. McAdow. TOWNSHIP DIVISION. At what time the first division of Ross county into townships was made, it is impossible to tell. They were nine in number, as follows: Lick, Green, Pee Pee, Pax HISTORY OF ROSS AND HIGHLAND COUNTIES, OHIO - 65 ton, Scioto, Jefferson, Pickaway, Wayne, and New Market. By 1803, two townships more were established, viz: Concord and Union. On May loth, of that year, Reuben Adams, William Patton, and Felix Renick, associate judges of Ross county, met at the court house, to establish and regulate boundaries of the townships, and to designate places for voting in each. They reported eleven townships, as above named. These townships did not all lie wholly, and some of them not even in part, within the present limits. of Ross county. New Market, for instance, was composed of territory which now is included in Highland county; Pee Pee, of territory now in Pike county, and Pickaway, of territory now in the county of that name. Several of the other townships extended beyond the present bounds of Ross. Following are the dates of the organization of the present townships, so far as they can be ascertained, together with the territory from which they were erected: Buckskin, August 10, 1807, from Paxton and Concord; Coleraine, June 11, 1804, from Green; Deerfield, July 7, 1804, from Union and Concord; Franklin, September 9, 1806, from Scioto and Pee Pee; Harrison, December 9, 1812, from Jefferson; Huntington, March 5, 1811, from Scioto and Twin; Paint, March 9, 1808, from Paxton and Buckskin; Springfield, 1809, from Green; Twin, February 20, 1805, from Concord, Union and Paxton. |